By Brian Trompeter
A proposed two-house subdivision just north of Vienna received the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s unanimous recommendation May 22, following probing questions about the site’s tree preservation, stormwater management, sewer connectivity and safety impact on nearby Lawyers Road.
Located at 2201 Laurel Ridge Road just north of the town of Vienna, the 1.91-acre property now is occupied by one single-family detached house. Applicants Samir and Muna Amer wish to rezone the 1.91-acre site from R-1 to R-2 and subdivide the lot to permit construction of a second home.
The commission held a March 13 public hearing on the proposal, but decided to convene another May 22 so the applicants could address outstanding issues.
Between those hearings, the couple modified the site’s 10-year tree-canopy calculations to include the dedicated right-of-way area along Lawyers Road and produced more accurate tree-canopy figures for the rest of the site.
Because the application would not meet the tree-preservation target under the new calculations, the applicants plan to ask for a deviation from those requirements during site-plan review.
County staff supported that proposal because the site’s existing vegetation is in poor condition, but added the application still would meet 10-year tree-canopy goals.
To mitigate stormwater runoff onto an adjacent property to the rear, the applicants would build a 2-foot-tall concrete wall along the backs of both lots of the subdivision.
County staff recommended that a drainage swale or pipe be used to convey that water to Lawyers Road. The swale should be designed upstream of the wall and protected by a storm-drain easement, they said.
The application also calls for a culvert, along with a storm-drain easement leading to it.
The proposed subdivision also would install a new sewer connection via a public easement between two adjacent properties.
Planning Commission member Chris Landgraf (Franconia District) asked whether it would be possible to use a directional drill to bore the required pipe area, so as to minimize land disturbance near those properties.
Samir Amer said he and his wife had consulted with the neighboring property owners and they did not have issues with the digging that would be required for the sewer line. A contractor stated directional drilling would be too expensive, he added.
But in the end, the application’s proffers allowed for the possibility of directional drilling.
The applicants also would build a 10-foot-wide shared-use path along the property’s edge on Lawyers Road.
Road-safety issues have plagued the neighborhood for decades, said Richard Ragan, who also lives on Laurel Ridge Road.
“Please do not allow rezoning of this property and squeeze development into the last open corner of that area along Lawyers Road until [Virginia Department of Transportation] engineers have come up with a design for road improvements that all of us know are badly needed,” Ragan said.
“Please don’t eliminate the possibilities for road-safety improvements in the rush to rezone that parcel,” he added. “It should be about the greater good instead of individual interest.”
There are safety issues along a lengthy part of Lawyers Road, from Vienna to points north, said Planning Commission member John Carter (Hunter Mill District).
“This one lot is probably not the lot to be able to fix this by itself, because it’s a grading issue, and again, it’s not just this area,” Carter said.
Planning Commission Chairman Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner (At-Large) agreed and encouraged residents to continue taking their concerns directly to VDOT.
The commission delayed its vote on the application until later in the meeting because the applicants needed to sign the most recent batch of proffers.
The Board of Supervisors will decide on the proposed rezoning at an upcoming meeting.
